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The Role Of Foreign Election Observers In Democratic Elections In Nigeria
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The presence of international
observers has been witnessed during elections in Nigeria, and the last
election which was held in 2015 was not an exemption. According to INEC,
107 election observers were accredited to monitor the 2015 elections.
Examples of the group includeInternational Republican Institute
(IRI),theEuropean Union Election Observation Mission and National
Democratic Institute (NDI). The leader of one of the groups, NDI to be
precise commented on how participatory Nigerians were in enfranchising
their rights; directly upholding the tenets of democracy. He pointed
some of the challenges faced during the election and urged the necessary
bodies saddled with fixing such challenges to look into it. One of such
challenges was the one tied to the card reader machine, as it was able
to read some people’s card and in most cases the reverse was the case.
This group equally pointed out the lapses caused by INEC in the delivery
of election materials to polling units on time (Andreassen 1993).
Another
report from a different international group observer,theEuropean Union
Election Observation Mission reported that the 2015 elections were
peaceful and the security personnel were at their best in ensuring that
it was peaceful.
Nigeria, like most post independent African states
is mired in the crisis of under development. The crisis manifested
itself in economic, social and political terms. The nation’s politics
has become characterized by a winner takes all attitude resulting in
violence, corruption, and the entertainment of what is known or called
antidevelopment politics. Agreed that military and successive civilian
administrations have contributed to this parlous state of affairs, yet
the behaviour of Nigerian politicians leaves much to be desired
(Babatunde, 2007:53). Indeed, it can be emphatically asserted that
between1999-2015, there has been an absence of the politics of relevance
in Nigeria. That is, politics geared towards the development of the
nation and improvement in the material well-being of the generality of
the people. This led to a clarion call for change instead of continuity
of the Peoples’ Democracy Party that ruled the country for sixteen
years. The change can only come about through free and fair election
under the watchful eyes of local and international observers. The 2015
presidential election was very important because of the global
ramification. It is interesting to know that elections which normally is
a scheduled routine event in which citizens select those who take
decisions on their behalf, have become almost the defining events in the
Nigeria national life. That Is, elections in Nigeria today are defined
in terms such as “do or dieâ€, the “capture†of offices by all means.
Yet, this is not unique to Nigeria. Globally, elections have acquired an
iconic character and elections have become one of the most visible
occupations across the global village (Attahru 2011:4) International
election observer’s criss-cross the world today and increasingly
intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations are actively
engaging in election activities.
The need to study the 2015
presidential election in Nigeria is important because of the position
the country occupies in Africa and the interest and respect which the
international community have for the state. Also, the need to ascertain
whether the independent national electoral commission has improved on
the lapses that occurred during the last 2011 general elections. The
2011 election provoked massive anger, condemnations and allegation of
electoral fraud of the polls. The study of 2015 the presidential
election is very vital in the sense that, it is proper to know whether
the measures like card readers machines, permanent voters card, and
computerized voters registered list (updated) actually reduced the
incidence of electoral fraud in Nigeria. Also, to what extend the
election was free and fair as well as conform to the international
standard as adjudged by the international observers. Above all, the
role, action and assistances which the international observers rendered
toward the success or failure of the election (Stack 1993).
This is
why this study is carried out to find out the role of foreign electoral
observers on election credibility in Nigeria; with a closer look at the
recent 2015 elections.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This paper is about the role of foreign election observers in democratic elections in Nigeria: a case study of the 2015 presidential elections. The conduct of the 2015 Presidential election in Nigeria recorded mixed outcomes. Although fears that Election Day would be marred by serious violence were allayed to a large extent, some instances of technical hitches, vote buying and other forms of electoral manipulations were recorded in some parts. However, these electoral hitches were not sufficient ... Continue reading---
